Read the following texts. What are they saying that can and should help us understand how people, rich or poor, can protect themselves from the dangers that greed, covetousness, and the love of money and material things can present to the Christian?
Acts 24:24–26
Galatians 5:22–25
2 Peter 1:5–9
These texts are so rich and filled with a lot of divine injunction regarding how we should live. But notice one common thread: self-control. This trait can be particularly difficult when it comes to greed, covetousness, and the desire to own things. Only through self-control, first of our thoughts and then our actions, can we be protected from the dangers of the things we have been talking about.
We can exercise that control only to the degree with which we give ourselves over to the power of the Lord. None of us, on our own, can defeat these sinful traits, especially if they long have been cultivated and cherished. We truly need the supernatural working of the Holy Spirit in our lives if we are to gain victory over these powerful deceptions. “No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it” (1 Corinthians 10:13, NKJV).
Acts 24:24–26
Galatians 5:22–25
2 Peter 1:5–9
These texts are so rich and filled with a lot of divine injunction regarding how we should live. But notice one common thread: self-control. This trait can be particularly difficult when it comes to greed, covetousness, and the desire to own things. Only through self-control, first of our thoughts and then our actions, can we be protected from the dangers of the things we have been talking about.
We can exercise that control only to the degree with which we give ourselves over to the power of the Lord. None of us, on our own, can defeat these sinful traits, especially if they long have been cultivated and cherished. We truly need the supernatural working of the Holy Spirit in our lives if we are to gain victory over these powerful deceptions. “No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it” (1 Corinthians 10:13, NKJV).
Read again 2 Peter 1:5–9. To what path does Peter point? What are its steps, and how can we learn to follow them, especially in our struggle against greed and covetousness?
